


Cold

by Shiori_Makiba



Series: War and Peace [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, Bullying, Consequences, Dying Will Flames, Gen, Introspection, Name-Calling, Promises, Sawada Iemitsu's A+ Parenting, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, part two of many
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 14:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17408381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiori_Makiba/pseuds/Shiori_Makiba
Summary: Sawada Tsunayoshi was always cold these days.





	Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to Discovery.
> 
> Originally Part Two was slated for the first meeting between Xanxus and Tsuna but Tsuna had something to say first.

Tsuna was always cold now.

Not on the outside of him but on the inside of him. Deep inside of him, in the very center of his being was nothing but ice. A deep, aching cold that no amount of blankets, hot tea, or hugs from his mother could warm.

Tsuna **hated** it. He hated it so much.

It wasn't always like this. He could remember when his insides had been warm, lit by a fire that burned cheerfully in his heart. A flame so bright and warm that his body couldn't always contain it, spilling out of his heart and into his hands as dancing orb of orange fire.

He loved it. He loved its color. He loved how big and bright it was. He loved how even a hint of it warmed up everyone around him, made them smile and laugh even on a bad day. He loved how his fire helped him, make him feel like everything was going to be alright. Like he could handle whatever came his way.

Then those men came and took his fire away.

The Old Man and The Stupid Man. He had been introduced to them but had decided that they didn't deserve proper names. They were bad. Very bad. Bad men who had entered his home, smiled at him and his mother like they were friends before they tried to steal his fire. Thieves who had smothered that flame deep inside him until all of the warmth was gone.

Tsuna **hated** them. He hated them so much.

He was so cold inside that if not for The Feeling, he would have thought his fire was completely gone, snuffed out forever. But The Feeling told him that his fire wasn't gone-gone but buried deep in the ice. Buried so deep that Tsuna feared the he would never be able to dig his fire out.

Tsuna trusted The Feeling. It had never led him wrong before. It was The Feeling that told him to keep his distance from certain people, when a place wasn't safe. It was the Feeling that said that as scary as Hibari–sempai was, that Tsuna was safe with the older boy. It was the Feeling that told him when Yamamoto–kun's smiles weren't real and that he needed a hug. And a thousand other things.

The Feeling was always right. It had tried to warn him about the bad men. He had tried to listen. He had done his best to stay as far away from them as possible. But that was hard to do when they were in his house with Mama claiming that The Stupid Man was his Papa. The Feeling had shrieked the loudest it had ever done when The Old Man's hand had reached for his forehead, lit with the same kind of orange fire Tsuna had. The same kind of orange fire also wreathed around the Stupid Man's hand as he also put his hands on Tsuna.

His fire tried to fight them, flaring brighter than Tsuna had ever seen it. But Tsuna didn't know how to fight them off and neither did his fire. He lost and it lost. Then it was all darkness.

When he finally woke up, two days later, the bad men were gone. But so was his fire. And he was **cold**. Colder than he had ever felt in his life. So very, very cold.

He spend the majority of that first cold day crying. Which made Mama, who was already worried because he had been asleep so long, even more worried. Tsuna was sorry about worrying her like that but he couldn't help crying. He felt like he was never going to be warm again and it hurt so much.

At least he still had The Feeling. It was quieter now but still there. It could still warn and led him. Tsuna was thankful for that. He didn't know what he would have done if he had lost both his fire and The Feeling. Things were bad enough with his fire gone.

Losing his fire didn't just make him cold all the time. He had gone from occasional bouts of clumsiness to being a full on klutz. It was hard to summon the confidence, the certainty that he could do whatever he set his mind to. It was so hard to focus on what his teacher at school was saying, even it was interesting and not boring. It was just as hard to focus on his homework and tests, answers often danced just out of reach. Answers that he knew that he knew but just couldn't get out no matter how hard he tried. His grades had gone from good to dismal in record time.

Tsuna also seemed to annoy people simply by existing now. And no matter how much he tried to slip quietly in the background, it seemed like there was something about him that attracted everyone's attention. They wouldn't leave him alone. They couldn't seem to make themselves ignore him like they did every other loser in the school. He was the only one they singled out all the time, every time.

Even the kids who weren't bullies had started calling him Dame Tsuna. _No Good Tsuna_. Not everybody called him that. Kyoko-chan never did. Neither did her friend Hana-chan (she called him a monkey but she called all of the boys monkeys). Or Yamamoto-kun. Or Hibari–sempai ( _Small Animal_ was definitely preferable to Dame Tsuna). Or Kyoko-chan's big brother Ryohei-san.

All of this worried Mama. Another reason to hate the bad men. They made Mama worried and sad.

It didn't take Tsuna long to figure out that he needed his fire back. The Feeling had some ideas about how he could accomplish this. One thing the Feeling was clear on was that it wasn't going to be easy. His fire had been buried very, very deep in the cold. Digging it out, destroying the cold that keep it trapped was going to be hardest thing Tsuna had ever had to do. Might be the hardest thing he would **ever** have to do in his whole life.

He might fail. But he had to try.

“I am going get my fire back,” he whispered, a promise to himself. “Somehow, someday, I am **going** to get it back.”

If someone had been watching and that someone had been looking closely, they would have seen a brief flicker of molten orange blaze in the boy's eyes as he made that promise.


End file.
